April 2010

The sound of Far East contemplative music from Japan. Despite the ferocious adoption of all things motorized and digital in East Asia, their sophisticated music traditions continue to reward the discerning space traveler. In fact, one of the principal instruments of Japan, the end-blown bamboo flute called the shakuhachi, was popularized by itinerant Zen Buddhist monks.

Originally called komoso or "straw mat monks" for the mats they carried to sleep on, beginning in the 13th century, they traveled the country soliciting alms—while playing the shakuhachi. By 1600 they began to play with straw baskets covering their heads, to show lack of ego and detachment from the world. After this they were called komuso or "monks of emptiness and nothingness."

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, we listen for the sound of emptiness on a program called KOMUSO. Music is by KITARO, HONOKA, NANAE YOSHIMURA, RILEY LEE, MANEKI NEKO, and THE LUMINOUS WORLD ORCHESTRA.

The sound of a verdant landscape on a
bright spring day. It reminds us of the natural environment that's
nurtured us since the beginning of life on earth. Looking out, our eyes
come to rest on the horizon, the distant sky and delicate clouds. These
are worlds that composers of environmental ambient music bring to us,
melding sounds of the natural world into their music, and creating
atmospheric soundscapes for us to travel in.

In the
last 50 years, we've begun to recognize our responsibility to the
environment — for ourselves and for generations to come. Forest,
mountain, jungle, grassland, desert, tundra, ocean: whatever your
favorite, environmental music sends a message beyond ideology or
politics — to cherish our relationship to the natural world and expand
our hope for the future.

On this transmission of
Hearts of Space, a terrestrial-ambient-future journey called CLOUD OF
PROMISE. Music is by ATOMIC SKUNK, CHAD KETTERING, MICHAEL STEARNS, RESONANT DRIFT, MAX CORBACHO, and DAN POUND.

What's in a "tribe"? The word returned to popular culture in the 1960s and has been in and out of fashion ever since. Of course, in most of the so-called "third world," it's not fashion: tribal societies are still the day-to-day reality, and musicians from sophisticated Western countries have been finding inspiration and vitality in tribal music for hundreds of years. It makes sense: all of us have roots in tribal culture somewhere.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a report from the intersection of ambient electronics and tribal rhythms called TRANS-TRIBAL EXPRESS. Music is by ERIK WOLLO, RUDY ADRIAN & RON BOOTS, REMANENCE, ANTONIO TESTA & ALIO DIE, SATORI, MO BOMA, STEVE ROACH, and BYRON METCALF.

This week we update our "Phantom India" series, a group of programs dating back to the first year of Hearts of Space in 1983. The title comes from the seven-part BBC television documentary series on India by French filmmaker LOUIS MALLE.

The rich traditions of South Asian and Indian music provide an endless source of creative inspiration for new ambient music. Over the years, many western musicians have traveled to India or become students of classical Indian masters. Adapting what they've learned to today's world of digital audio, synthesizers and software, they've brought us a new hybrid: touched by the sinuous sounds, buoyant rhythms and distinctive instruments of India, while attuned to the musical languages of today.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a South Indian ambient journey called PHANTOM INDIA 6. Music is by KARMA FREQUENCY, ROBERT RICH, CHINMAYA DUNSTER, BENJY WERTHEIMER, AL GROMER KHAN, and DRALA.

It's official: Hearts of Space has been dropped by Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.

We've been on XM since the very beginning of the service in 2001, the result of a decision by XM's original Program Director, the legendary LEE ABRAMS. Lee appreciated our taste and our careful approach to program creation. Lee was a music guy from the old school who genuinely loved and appreciated all kinds of music. During his tenure, XM clearly had best music channels in the business.

Lee quit XM in 2006; shortly after, XM merged with Sirius Satellite Radio to create Sirius/XM, and Sirius took over control of programming. From our original home on "AudioVisions" channel 103 under the caring, professional stewardship of RUSS DAVIS, HOS was moved to the new "Spa" channel 72. Russ was unceremoniously fired and others took over programming the Spa and Jazz channels.

Sirius has a completely different, mainstream/star-oriented programming philosophy, which led to them paying Howard Stern over half a billion-with-a-B dollars to move there, more emphasis on sports and other mass-audience channels, and a de-emphasis on their music channels, especially the "niche" channels like Spa. Note to niche music listeners: they're just not into you.

To be clear, being on XM was never a big financial thing for us. In the beginning they paid us less than small market public radio stations, which we didn't think was possible. In 2004 we signed a deal for $2000 a year for 7 shows a week, or $5.50 a show. We were able to negotiate a little more some years, but it was still minimal.

Our contract came up for renewal this year on March 31st. Despite repeated attempts to contact them, we never heard anything about renewal or renegotiation, and the show simply disappeared from the Spa channel on April 1st when the contract expired. When we finally got a hold of someone in their legal department on April 6th, the stated reason was that "Sirius has a policy of not carrying programming that is available elsewhere."

That's obviously corporate bullspin, since they carry major league baseball, basketball, the New York Philharmonic, and many other kinds of programming that are indeed available elsewhere. The real reason is that they just don't care about small audiences for niche music genres. They'd prefer to pay Howard Stern $100 Million a year to (theoretically) pull in the numbers. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working: Sirius has "serious" financial problems and its stock is down to under $1 a share.

With 7 or 8 shows a week, over the years many new spacefans have
discovered Hearts of Space on XM. They're a communicative bunch: from
farmers to long haul truckers to grandmothers in Maine, we've received
email from thousands of them, and we expect to hear from many more in the wake of the drop.

We're sad to lose our satellite radio listeners, and we encourage you to join us online. For a limited time, we're offering a special "transition" discount for XM subscribers to get them used to listening on-demand anytime they like, rather than on XM's broadcast schedule! Please email XM@hos.com for details.

Every year at Easter, we take the opportunity to catch up on the finest sounds in sacred choral music. There's something mysterious and majestic in the sound of voices in harmony. As often in the past, we turned to guest producer ELLEN HOLMES of Adagio Recordings, who brought us a bouquet of sublime pieces from the repertoire.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, our common theme is QUIET PRAYERS. Not only Easter sacred music — but sacred music that sounds right on Easter. It comes from many countries and spans several centuries: from medieval hymns to 21st century art songs, sung by some of the world's finest choirs and choral groups.